Will My Injury Case Go To Trial?

If you or somebody you love has sustained an injury caused by the careless or negligent actions of another party, you may be wondering whether or not your case will have to go to trial. It may surprise many people to find that, unlike The TV shows and movies, most personal injury matters do not make it to trial. In general, personal injury claims are settled out of court between insurance carriers and injury victims. Here, we want to discuss why that is the case and what you can expect to happen in your personal injury case.

Reasons It May Go to Trial

There are many reasons why a personal injury case may still go to trial. This includes:

1. The defendant’s insurance carrier thinks they can win the case in court, so they offer an unreasonably low settlement offer or even deny a claim altogether.
2. The settlement amount demanded by your attorney is deemed too high for the insurance carrier to settle without fighting the claim.
3. The insurance carrier does not want to settle for a higher amount because they want to avoid setting a precedent for future cases.
4. Some cases go to trial as a matter of principle or public good. There are times when irresponsible insurance carriers or at-fault parties simply need to be held accountable in a courtroom setting.

Reasons it May Settle

As we mentioned above, most personal injury cases are settled out of court. In fact, you will find that most injury cases are settled before a lawsuit even has to be filed. In general, when a person sustains an injury caused by the careless or negligent actions of another party, they will file a claim with the at-fault party’s insurance carrier. Some of the main reasons that your case may settle before going to trial, or perhaps before a lawsuit is even filed, include the following:

1. If the defendant’s insurance company is relatively confident that you will be successful in a court case against them, they may choose to go ahead and settle to avoid paying out a more significant settlement amount.
2. The amount of money that your injury lawyer is requesting is low enough that it will be cheaper for the other party to settle rather than defend the matter in court.
3. The settlement amount offered by the defendant’s insurance carrier is comparable to what you would expect to win if you took the case to trial.

Many people in Pennsylvania carry no-fault car accident insurance policies. In these cases, injury victims will turn to their own insurance carrier for coverage of their medical bills regardless of which party caused the crash. No-fault insurance typically means that there will be no trial for the incident. In serious injury car accident cases, victims may be able to pursue claims against the at-fault driver, even if they have no-fault insurance coverage. However, even these injury cases are usually settled before they go to trial.

Find an Attorney Willing to Stand up for You

If you or somebody you care about has been injured due to the actions of another party, you need to find an attorney that is willing to take your case to trial if necessary. A skilled attorney will understand when you are being offered a fair settlement amount and when you were being treated unfairly by the insurance carriers involved.